Unleash The Beast
by joniedinofreak
Summary: In every war there are savages, criminals and monsters at both side, only sometimes you have to learn to control them. How good will Shepard be able to control his? Warning: AU, starts in Mass Effect, will continue into ME2, Contains OC, mild gore and cursing. Rated T for the moment, may go to M with the introduction of Zaeed, maybe earlier. R&R please! Pairing is MShep/Tali
1. Prologue

_25 km out of Colony Shuttleworth, Liwei System, Armstrong Nebula, Skyllian Verge _

He sighed. Another one of those four-eyed freaks dropped down. Duck, let the rifle cool down, get up, fire, repeat. That was standard training, yet somehow some of these soldiers, still couldn't do that. What kind of troops did he get? He pulled down one of the soldiers, who's gun overheated.

"You won't hit anything with an overheated gun, kid. Stay in cover till the damn noise stops."

He leaned over his cover again, aimed the rifle and fired. Looking around he noticed two more marines getting shot. His troops were going down, fast.

"Armor!". A single shout from one of his marines, destroyed all hope that was left. They were supposed to deal with the flank! Not the damn main force, they weren't equipped to deal with this. They had ample heavy weapons to begin with and those were all spent and by the time the main force would be here, the Batarians would have taken the colony. There was only one option left.

"Twenty, contact the rest of the force, tell them this position is overrun. Thirty-two get me captain Kahoku on the comm." A shell exploded in front of the cover, a piece of shrapnel getting stuck through the helmet of the kid with the overheated gun. What was his number again? Four-o-Six? No time to think about it.

"This is Captain Kahoku of the SSV Kennedy, what's the situation down there Major?"  
"We're getting pounded over here, sir! Intel was wrong, they brought armored vehicles! I need an air strike on my position! We can't hold out for much longer." He hoped the situation sounded dire enough for the darn captain, the alternative was another colony's population taken away as slaves.

The silence on the other side of the comm felt like hours, whilst in fact it weren't even five seconds. The voice came through, bringing both hope and despair.

"Bomber pilots have been warned, we will give you an ETA when the wings have left the carrier."

"Sir, they are retreating! We won!", the shout of a private reached his ears. Retreat? Why would they retreat? They had more numbers, more firepower, more morale, the odds were simply in their favor. It was only then that it struck him.

"They're not retreating, they're regrouping!" he looked at the men who's lives depended on him, some rookies, some idiots who could have gotten promoted a long time ago, if they had shown even a bit of ambition or initiative, some stubborn fools who had served with him for so many missions. Yet every single one of them still alive at this moment, because they were lucky. However, sometimes decisions had to be made, some were easier than others. Yet, if he played this right, he could save some of them. He hoped.

"I know some of you expect some motivational words from me. But all I can give are facts. The Na'hesit Batarians outnumber, out-gun and outmaneuver us. However they made the mistake of attacking us! We have a legacy to uphold! Commander Shepard showed them the strength of humanity when they attack Elysium two months ago! A colony counts on us to prove that strength again! Yet, the colony isn't the only thing we should be worrying about! We all owe the Alliance a debt from the moment we signed up!" His tone lowered, sadness becoming clear in his voice, "That debt is your life. A lot of the faces that were with us this morning have paid that debt, it is with pain in my heart that I ask for eight of you to follow their example and pay the price, Thirty-two and me will stay with those eight, to prevent these slavers from reaching the colony," he paused, needing to catch his breath, and continued with a voice as loud as he could muster without warning the Batarians, "This will be our Thermopylae, our Alamo, Pasir Panjang ,Karbala, Alamana, our Wizna or our Isurava. We will not surrender nor will we show them mercy. The other 16, under Twenty's lead, will dig in together with our main force near the colony to deal with anything that manages to get through. Good luck comrades and know that as long as this unit's spirit is alive, we will be watching over you!"

Gathering the eight men didn't take to long, every single on of them from the "old guard", proven themselves over and over again. The parting words were to their comrades were simple: "Listen to our unit's comm chatter, the moment you don't hear any of us, the four-eyes are coming". The only thing left was waiting. That was the real nerve breaker. They all had said what had to be said, they were just waiting for the end. And then came the call.

"Major, this is Systems Alliance bomber-wing Salvation, ETA 25 minutes, hold out down there!"; "This is Systems Alliance bomber-wing Faith, ETA 30 minutes."

The sound that followed the messages however, were less pleasant, explosions came closer every barrage, followed by a smoke barrage.

"Mortars! Get your shields ready!" He braced himself, the barrage passing him and his brethren, smoke enveloping them. He prepared to return fire the moment the Batarians commenced their siege... only to discover the lack of fire.

"Sir, why the hell aren't they shooting at us?" The question came from a woman, sniper with a rifle that was at least half as big as she was. He had to think, what was her number again? Thirteen? Or was Thirteen the engineer and was she Sixty-four? He shook his head to get rid of the questions, wrong place, wrong time.

"If I knew that, I'd be at the wrong side of the conflict. It just gives them less time to kill us before they get bombed."

"_Humans!"_

"You got to be kidding me! Thirteen, aim at his head," he ordered, taking his chance with the number.

"Aiming at the head, sir! Got the rifle pointed right between the eyes."

"What pair Thirteen?", came a voice from the right, Sixteen, male, Earth, Somalian, came into the Major's head.

"_You just witnessed what we can do when we are merciful!"_

"In the middle of all four, don't want them to feel insulted because we picked a pair over another one, do we?"

"Why bother with what they think?", That had to be Sixty-four then, the other woman, thinking about it, didn't she come from Elysium? Yes, she did, was she pissed off.

"_Surrender now!"_

Thirty-two snorted, "Surrender, that's a good joke."

"_And you will be able to tell the tale!"_

"And now they'll tell us their price, you'll see!" Another voice said, Forty-five, Mindoir, went into service a week before slavers hit the planet.

"Aww, stop ruining the fun, dude!" Twenty-three, Eden Prime, father died in the First Contact war.

"_You shall be treated with honor and respect!"_

"Told you he'd be wrong," said someone to the left to his companion.

"Damn Batarians", Fifty-two and Fifty-three, twin brothers and they loved to gamble... when not on duty of course, or at least that's their claim. The Major did see a credit chip pass possession there.

"_There is no shame in admitting defeat!"_

"He should tell that to the Turians!" Seventy, Earth, French, loved to "interrogate", shivers ran down the Major's spine, he still remembered that last interrogation of that Eclipse sister. Poor thing begged to get shot.

"He'd probably get shot the moment he'd say that to them," came another voice, Six, a comrade, a brother in arms and a person who he was glad to have him join in their final stand.

"_You will continue to serve, only your master will change! You will serve the Hegemony!"_

"I suggest we follow their example then, sir?" Thirteen suggested, the Major could see her trigger finger aching, she'd been thought well by Thirty-eight.

"Do it, the bomber-wings will have to hurry up a bit. Can't hear him anymore."

"_I personally gua-"_

A shot echoed through the valley, the Batarian's voice cut short. Thirteen ducked back down behind cover as the Batarians froze at the action.

"Target neutralized, sir."

The Major looked over cover, to say neutralized seemed to be an understatement, he could see from his position that, well, the face got quite messed up. Probably no 'open-eyes funeral' for that guy.

"_You see what kind of savages these humans are! They refuse an offer to surrender! They shot a messenger!"_

The voice addressing the Batarians had to be their commanding officer and boy, was he furious.

"Keep low gentlemen! It's going to get very hot in here!"

"_Show these savages no quarter! NO MERCY! OPEN FIRE!"_

Infantry let their guns speak, armor let their cannons fire to create a symphony with the infantry. Bullets ripped over the marines, shells flew at them... only to fly over them, this was the Batarian might? By god, how did these idiots think to chase them out of their positions? Sure, suppressing fire could be useful, if you didn't aim so high, and using shells to suppress? Amateurs!

"These idiots don't know how to shoot! Show them how Alliance Marines do it!"

In one fluent motion they leaned over their cover and fired, mowing down a couple of Batarians, only to find the armor's cannons adjusting and returning the fire. A piece of cover was blown away, killing Fifty-two and Fifty-three in one go.

"Salvation wing, fifteen minutes out. Hold the line, Major!"

"How about you come down here and I'll take control of your plane and then see if you can hold the damn line? I just lost a fifth of my force down here! Hurry up!"

"We're flying as fast we can!"

"Fly faster! Damn-" he leaned over cover only to get blown down by a shockwave "it".

When he got up, he noticed the Batarians stopped firing... some of them were fighting melee-range with Sixteen and Seventy, with forty-five already lying dead on the floor... gauntlet damage. Only then did he notice the blue glow around the Batarians that were fighting them... Brawlers.

He grabbed for his rifle an aimed at the head of the one fighting Sixteen. The shots that followed ended the Batarian's life, he swung his rifle towards the only one, at the exact moment Seventy ducked under a gauntlet strike and jammed his knife into the top right eye. The poor guy didn't stand a chance afterwards.

"More of them inbound!"

He leaned over cover picking off two of them, before the thermal clip overheated. The next moment a Batarian stood before him, fury present in the Batarian's eyes. He instinctively smacked at the Batarian with his rifle. The heat was enough to buy him time to pull out his sidearm. He aimed his pistol at the head... and stopped. Was that... Red Sand on his face? A single shot, finished the drugged Batarian out of his misery.

"This is going easy," came the voice of Seventy next to him.

"Less talking, more shooting," replied Thirty-two.

"The biotics are pulling back!"

An explosion rocked through the valley, the cover where Six and Twenty-three were hiding behind ripped to pieces. A second shot took out the persons who were hiding behind it. The armored vehicle moved closer and fired another shot, taking out Sixteen.

"If we don't take out that vehicle, it's going to run us over!"  
"What do you plan on using? We've got nothing!"

"Not entirely correct, sir," came Seventy's voice, "I have one corrosive grenade left, but as long as it's shields are up, it won't do much good."  
"Sixty-Four, you heard him, prepare to hack the thing's shields."

"Affirmative, sir! What type is it anyway?"  
"D-897 'Zealot'," replied thirty-two.  
" Alliance issue, program Ellie, modification..." she muttered.

The unit's comm-chat flared up. The Major motioned for them to pause.

"Nine, Seven will arrive in 12 minutes with reinforcements, don't you dare die now! Understood?" A female voice, a very familiar female voice.

"Seven, LTC? He'd be more useful preparing the colonies defenses, sir!"

"Trust me, I tried," came a voice from another channel, "but you know how she gets when you ignore her direct orders."

He switched his comm channel and muttered "Amen to that."

"You think I don't know of your private channels? Now execute my orders or you'll wish the Batarians would enslave you!" the female voice sounded.

"Aye, aye, sir!" He gulped, he'd have to find a way out of this situation...

An explosion made him come back to reality, like good soldiers Sixty-four and Seventy were still waiting for his order. He saw Thirteen clutching her arm, she probably had been wounded by that last shot. He made his decision.

"The moment that Zealot goes down, you three", he said pointing towards Thirteen, Sixty-four and Seventy, "run towards Major Seven's company, Thirty-two and me will hold them off. Now!"

They leaned over their piece of cover, the shields brought down on the Zealot, and the acid of the grenade melting the armor. When the crew found themselves exposed, they managed to fire one shot, before being riddled by bullets.

Their last shot landed beside the cover where Sixty-four and Seventy where hiding.

"Get the hell out of here, Thirteen, tell them our line has fallen!" Nine shouted.

He leaned over cover and laid down suppressing fire on the Batarians' position. As he saw them running behind cover he checked one more time and saw Thirteen running away. "At least someone who gets out of here alive" he thought.

"Salvation wing ten minutes out."

"Major, requesting covering fire" Thirty-two said.

Not even thinking about it, Nine just fired until his gun overheated, forgetting his own advice... again.

Thirty-two, came back with a form hanging over his shoulders, it was breathing. It took Nine a few moments to realize it was Sixty-four, her legs were gone, half her armor melted away. The fact she was still alive alone, was suprising.

"Did I do good, sir?" She asked, her breath barely concealing the pain she was suffering as she was laid on the ground.

"Yes, you did girl, you did," His reply, honest, his hand was reaching for his pistol. She wouldn't suffer for long, she was still a sister in arms. He aimed the pistol "Meet you in Walhalla, girl, there's a seat there reserved for you," and shot.

He leaned over cover, at exact the same moment as Thirty-two and fired, not even bothering with aiming. Only to find his gun malfunctioning.

"Well seems like I'm done for, Thirty-two" He chuckled. God, it felt good to know he wouldn't last long anymore with certainty.

Thirty-two ducked too, a slug piece crashing through his rifle. "What are the odds of that?" He muttered

And they laughed, one last time, and for some reason, it scared the Batarians more than the entire assault before that moment.

"Ah, so, we wait for them to come in melee range? Or do we charge like a bunch of madmen like on Trident?"

"We wait for them."

"So, we have some time to kill, permission to ask a personal question, sir?"

"Shoot it."  
"Do you love somebody?"  
"Of course."  
"What's her or his name?"  
"You'd rather not know..."

"Ah, come on ,Sir, we only got, what? Five minutes left to live?"  
"Fine, I know her as Thirty-eight, you know her as LTC"  
"Whaaat?" He asked in a surprised voice. "How do you keep it secret with all these persons around you!"  
"I said I loved her, never said she knew." He sighed, "Not that she'll ever do now."

"Nine, you may want to learn to turn off your comm chat, when discussing personal business" came Seven's voice.  
"Thanks for pointing out the stupidest mistake I could possibly make in my last minutes alive, you motherdreller!"

He noticed Thirty-two giving him a weird look.  
"Long story." A gunshot ringed and a harpoon flew through the piece of cover, into Thirty-two's head."  
"You lose Human." A voice, the Batarian commander's voice, to be exact.

Flaring up biotics. Damn, he hated the things, rarely used them, but they could be useful now. He prepared to charge, like the brawlers...

Only to find a harpoon sticking through his knee. The Batarian put his Kishlock away and took out a Pistol. He aimed and he shot at the other knee.  
"You Humans have to learn their place, at the heel of the Hegemony!" He smacked Nine in the face, " Your actions will be in vain! We will break through your comrade's lines and make all who reside in this colony, trustful servants of the Hegemony!"

He tilted his head to the right and spoke "Wrong, four-eyes."

"Salvation squadron, commencing bombing run!"  
"YOU lose."

And the world around them turned black.

"Bombing run completed, turning around and launching missiles."

"Missiles launched, returning to the SSV Kennedy."  
"Faith Squadron, commencing bombing run!"  
"No more lifesigns detected on the ground, returning to SSV Kennedy."

_That Night, Colony Shuttleworth_

"I hate to tell you, LTC, but... told you so."  
"Shut it Major, now was there anything else you wanted to say, or did you simply come to mock a woman?"  
"Thirteen is in the infirmary, she lost a lot of blood, but the doctors say she'll live. Whatever Batarians were left, legged it when the main force got bombed to oblivion. We won, LTC"

"But we lost two third of a company, including it's commanding structure in the process. Was it really worth it?"  
"Their sacrifice saved a colony, multiple Batarian rebel leaders and destroyed a Na'hesit division. So, yes, all facts taken together, it was worth it."  
"And what does your heart say?"

"That Nine was an idiot, for not calling earlier for the darn bombers."

_The Battlefield_

Two figures prowled the battlefield during the night. One might say they are looters, others may say other things. In the end, their designation doesn't matter.

"There's no new technology here, let's get out of here before the Alliance comes to get their dead."  
"Wait, this one still has vitals, they're faint, but we can save him if we hurry."  
"Calling the shuttle, the boss will be pleased."

He tapped the communicator in his ear.  
"This is Rath'nasi requesting immediate med. evac. We've got a priority package, hurry up, he's critical."

* * *

_**Hey there! I hoped you enjoyed the prologue. If you have any critics, no matter what they are, tell them, that way I can work on them!  
**__**Also, a comment is always appreciated even if it's just something like, "man I hate yadayee" or stuff like that! **_

_**Greetings,**_

_**Joniedinofreak**_


	2. Chapter 1

**Ok, first of all, I do not own ME or bioware created characters, only my own OC.  
****Second, I hope that you enjoy this. Also special thanks to ReaperScion, for being my Mass Effect encyclopedia and stuff.  
And just to make sure I have said it, if a chapter contains less than a thousand words, I shall not upload it, unless the next chapter will contain at least 3,000 words. Till next time and don't forget to leave a comment, it's always nice to know if anybody is actually reading this.**

**Greetings,**

**Joniedinofreak**

**PS: Italics are flashbacks, just saying because somebody said it got confusing apparantly.**

* * *

_Nepheron, Columbia system, Voyager Cluster, April 2183_

"Ok, so let's go over the plan one more time. Ashley, Kaidan, you two stay behind and cover the exits. Not a single Cerberus goon escapes out of there."

"Aye aye, skipper."  
"Got that, Shepard."

"Garrus, if there's enough space, you provide sniper support. Otherwise stick with me."

The Turian looked up from the cannon controls and nodded.

"Liara, you cover Garrus, don't let them get close."

"Of course Shepard."

"Tali, Wrex, I want you two by my side, we go in and deal with them close range."

"Of course, Shepard."  
"Shepard." A confirming nod accompanied the single word.

"Good enough for me," thought Shepard.

"Any questions?", if there were then they were left unanswered, as nobody raised his or her voice.  
"Alright, then let's avenge Kahoku." He moved to the driver's seat "Joker drop the Mako!"

"Sure thing, commander! Oh and please bring pictures this time if Wrex pisses himself again!"

"I swear I am going to kill that human," came Wrex' voice from the passenger compartement.

"You know you like him to much, Wrex"

"Shut it Turian, before I decide to avenge the Genophage."

"Can you two shut it back there? I can't drive this thing decently if you lot keep fighting back there."

"You can drop everything that comes after decently," a synthesized voice replied.

"Darn mutineers." Shepard activated the mako's comm, "Pressly, where is that darn base?"

"Scans show it to the southwest of your position, Commander."

"Alright, thanks. Garrus, Wrex, if you two are still fighting back there and not on your positions, then by God, I am going to beat you two up when we arrive back on the Normandy!"

A while driving, under the doubtful skill of a certain Commander and a certain human vomiting all over another certain human later, the base came in sight.

"Garrus, we're coming under fire here!" Shepard's face reddened as another round hit the base "Kill that infantry already!"

"I would love to, but 'someone' should keep the mako a bit steadier. I can't even aim at them!"

A round smacked into a Cerberus anti-tank troop.

"About time you hit something! You know what? I'm going to make it easy."

"I don't like the sound of that," came a female voice.

The Mako took a sharp turn and went straight to the Cerberus troops.

"Garrus, kill them before Shepard gets us all killed!"  
"Get the heck out of that seat Turian, I want to live and you aren't helping with it!"  
"LT, you're the second in rank here, relieve him of his command!"  
"I want my mother!"  
"Hey, don't touch my beautiful mandibles!"

A crack followed by multiple thuds silenced the crew.

"D-d-d-d-d-do we still live?"  
Shepards head appeared from the opening to the cockpit of the Mako.  
"Really? You bunch of whiners, it wasn't that bad! Tali agrees with me, she didn't make a sound the entire time!" A pause of silence, "Right Tali?"  
Garrus waved his hand in front of the mask "Shepard, she fainted."  
"F**k! Wake her up, I'll inspect the gate to the base."

"The encryption is to good, Shepard, we'll need Tali back up before we can get in," Alenko said.  
"Speaking of the devil..."  
"I'm here Shepard", the Quarian girl was obviously embarrassed by the Mako-incident.

"Can you hack the door?"  
"I can do more than that. I can take out the power of the base, if you want that. Even divert part of their force to another location."  
"Do the first two. Why would they divert part of their force?"  
"My guess, Thorian Creepers or Rachni as in the other bases."  
"Do it."

_Ten minutes before engagement, inside the base_

"_My name is-"_

A figure inside a tank stirred.

"_Pleased to meet you, my name is Lisa Hannover and this is John Wilkinson."_

Another stir.

"_By the end of the training I expect you to be able to fight to your last breath. If I hear any sort of curse, that's a breath wasted. You will be sorry of it! So no f**k, fook, frell, frack or any of that stuff!"_

He stirred again.

"_He's such a motherdreller. What? Frell, Drell, see the connection, no?"_

Another stir.

"_You three will be deployed to Noveria, you need to take this person down. Leave no evidence."_

Another stir.

"_John, you meet up with that Asari and find out what she knows," the sound of footsteps going away sounded, "Now that he's out of the way, don't worry knowing him, he won't be back before dawn"_

Another stir.

"_Before you get any idea's, this is just a fling, a stress-reducing method. Nothing more!"_

Another stir.

"_You're still the worst gunner!", "And you're still the better bragger, John"_

A fist clenched.

" _Major Lisa Hannover, for your actions, excellent skill and long servitude to the Alliance, you are promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Captain John Wilkinson, in the light of your service record you are granted the rank of Major, so that leaves you Captain..."_

"He's regaining consciousness! Prepare the sedatives!" the voice came outside the tank.

"_So, we say goodbye to our names and adapt numbers?"_

Another fist clenched.

"_Exactly, for example my favorite number is Thirty-eight, so I'll be using that number."_

"Releasing sedatives."

"_There is no I, for the Alliance we are only numbers, each and everyone of you will be assigned yours."_

The figure began to calm.

"_So, you're a biotic? I think we just found something in which you beat Seven."_

"Danger has been evaded."

"_I love her, but she doesn't want to know of me"_

Power began to flow through his veins.

"_Sixty-nine's unit just got annihilated, there's no trace of them left."_

"His heart rate is going up again!"

"_I said it was a fling, the answer to your question is no!"_

A thud echoed through the room.

"_We are being deployed to the Liwei system, Captain Kahoku will brief us there."_

Alarms activated in the room.

"_We only expect infantry and recon vehicles. In case of an emergency, bomber squadrons will deploy to assist."_

"The base is under attack!"

"_We're getting pounded over here, sir! (...) I need an airstrike on my position "_

"Do these idiots really think they can break through the shield?"

"_We found this one near Colony Shuttleworth, sir. He nearly died, but we managed to save him, do we return him to Alliance care?"_

"Divert all non-essential power to the shield!"

"_Thanks for pointing out the stupidest mistake I could possibly make in my last minutes alive, you motherdreller!"_

"I want a platoon of combat personnel in this room to keep it secure! All others make sure these madmen do not get here!"

"_Do you love somebody?"  
"Of course."_

"Sir, we just lost contact with the platoon outside!"

"_No, operative, we keep him here, his medical reports show that he's a biotic and we lost contact with our facility at Pragia, he'll serve as a good replacement, nobody who'll miss him, military experience and a good bonus, he hates aliens."_

The room went dark.

"_You Humans need to learn their place, at the heel of the Hegemony!"_

"Get the power back on! I'll make sure our project remains stable!"

"_You lose Human!"_

The scientist stood with his back to the tank. He didn't notice the biotics flaring up along the figure, nor did he see the glass cracking.

"_Up the dosage! If he dies, we'll find another one!"_

The glass cracking was the last thing the scientist ever heard.

"_Well, seems like I'm done for."_

The power surged on, alarms blared, shouts came from down the hall.

"_Did I do good, sir?"_

He sent a biotic blast into the hall.

"_I should court-martial you two for gambling all the money away from the troops.", "Or you could play a game of Skyllian Five with us, sir."_

Men turned into biotic dust.

"_We will be watching over you!"_

He saw a scientist run away. He sent out a biotic lash, grabbing the scientist by the leg.

"_Only stop when he faints!"_

He picked up a knife of a dead guard and closed in on the scientist  
"Y-y-you're a monster," the scientist remarked, terror obvious on his face.  
"Then that makes two of us," was the reply, a mad glance on the face, wickedness in his voice and he brought down the knife.

Screams echoed through the base.

_Shepard's squad, after entry in the base._

The power surged back on.

"That was faster than expected," a synthesized voice came from next to him.

"_**Alert, all hands, this is code black. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill. Hostile commandos are secondary priority. I repeat, commandos are a secondary priority."**_

"We're only a secondary priority? Heh, guess they don't realize you're here, Shepard."

"Good job Tali, this will make our job a lot easier."

" Shepard, I didn't insert that message."

"Then expect trouble. Stick to the plan people."

They entered the first room and sprinted to cover.

"Cerberus snipers! Far right, deal with them Garrus!"  
"On it!"  
"Wrex, move up to the next piece of cover and suppress the others!"  
An affirmative grunt came.  
"Tali, with me!"

They ran around the room, until they had clear shots at them.  
"Snipers neutralized!"  
"Smoke them."

A single order, but followed quickly. The troopers went down before they had a chance to react. The next 2 rooms were taken out just as easy. When they entered the fourth room, they were however greeted by a storm of bullets.

"HMG, middle of the room! Wrex activate your barriers and take the right piece of cover, Liara create a barrier around me!"

"Now!"  
Wrex and Shepard ran to their respective pieces of cover and ducked behind it.  
"My barriers are down! We can't risk sticking our heads back out again, Shepard!"  
"Roger that, Wrex, stay in cover! Why is that HMG put up here anyway? You'd think they'd put it up closer to the entrance, keep people out!"

As Shepard said that the far doors opened, a scientist running through it.

"Help! Didn't you lot hear the alarm? He -ack!" He fell to the floor and got pulled behind the doors.  
Shepard didn't like this one bit, what had Cerberus done this time?

Then the screams began. The fire began to become less focused, the troops unsettled.

"Wrex, let's lay some covering fire for the others. Ashley, Kaidan, do you read me?"  
"Aye aye, skipper."  
"Meet up with us asap, we'll need all the help we can get."

Three troopers ran to the door, certain to take out whatever was causing the screams. And they stopped, for a moment, only to be replaced by shouts of panic. And they too stopped.

"Lay suppressing fire on the MG nest, I'll throw a grenade! Go!"  
A few moments later, it was done. The HMG nest taken out, all that was left was a few Cerberus troopers. It was that moment that Kaidan and Ashley arrived.

The troopers couldn't hold it out against the combined firepower of Shepard and his crew. After they were put down, they moved to the last door.  
"Expect the worst, Kaidan, Ashley, stay close." He opened the door.

To his left someone vomited.  
"Seriously Kaidan? Again? You really should eat a lot less."  
"By the spirits, what did they do?"  
Of Shepard's crew, the only one who seemed to be untouched was Wrex and even he looked a bit pale, if Krogan could look pale that is.  
They were standing in a bloodied hall, surrounded by insides. The bodies of the Cerberus personnel were unrecognizable. At both ends of the hall there were doors. One door open, nothing to be seen in that room, a dead end was all.  
The other door closed, the way to the armory and power generator. The answer lied in that room.  
They moved to the door, trying to ignore the mess around them. They opened the door, guns at the ready.

Only to see a man, with their back to them, just finishing with putting a helmet on his head.

"Are you here to kill me?" The man asked with a tired voice.  
"No, we're not," Shepard answered.  
"Then you work with these men," he stated,a knife flashing in his hand, spinning around only to find his body in a stasis bubble.  
"Good thinking Liara. No, I do not work for Cerberus," he spat the last word out. "I serve the Alliance and the council."

"_You signed up to become Alliance marines! You signed up to become the navy's finest!"_

"My teammate here is going to drop the stasis, if you want to listen like a civilized person, you are going to drop the knife."

"_You see what kind of savages these Humans are!"_

He dropped the knife.  
"Did you turn off the power?"  
Shepard stood there flabbergasted, he was supposed to ask the questions here!  
"Yes, we did, now I answered some of your questions, now I expect you to do the same to my questions. So here's the first question, why does it matter?"

"You freed me," He stated.  
"What do you know of Cerberus, the organization that kept you here?"  
"Only that they are responsible for me and that they love torture."  
"What did you do before they got you?"  
"Unknown."  
"What was their goal with you?"  
"Unknown."  
"Where could I get that information?" This thing – Shepard couldn't call it a person, not yet- was working on Shepard's nerves.  
"That terminal," 'it' pointed towards the room behind Shepard, the room on the other side of the hallway. "Why are you here?"  
"We came to avenge Rear Admiral Kahoku." Only after he said that, he realized his mistake. He had given away their intentions against a potential hostile. It did give a reaction.

"_This is Captain Kahoku of the SSV Kennedy."_

A fist clenched on the mention of the name. This thing knew the Rear Admiral.  
"You knew the Rear Admiral?"  
"I... don't know."

"What's your name?"  
"I don't remember."  
"Is there anything you do remember?"

"_My favorite number is Nine, so I'll use that then, heh."_

"Nine was my favorite number, call me Nine."  
"Do you have a way off this planet?"  
"No, I don't," he replied.  
"I can get you off-planet, but you'll only get near a inhabited planet or star station when my mission commands it."

"What is your mission?"  
"To stop Saren and the Geth from bringing back the Reapers," Shepard knew 'Nine' wouldn't know what he was talking about and he knew he should have expected the next question.  
"Any other enemies?"  
"Cerberus and whoever comes in my way."  
"Can I join in? I have a score to settle."

Shepard motioned for his crew to turn off the audio outputs of their helmets and to switch to a private channel.  
"What do you say?"  
"You saw the damage he did, could be a valuable asset."  
"With all due respect Commander, but he could actually be working for Cerberus."  
"I'll have to agree with the LT on this one, Cerberus doesn't seem to care much for their own."  
"Make him swear an oath or something, it should be enough."  
"I agree with Garrus and Wrex here."  
"His body language shows that it's quite obvious that he doesn't have a clue what's going on, whoever or whatever he was, it's gone. I'll agree with Wrex, Garrus and Tali."  
"Fair enough."

Shepard turned to Nine again.  
"You can join, if you prove that you won't stab us in the back."

He nodded, removed a gauntlet and picked up the knife.

"_Asari have this special order, Justicars. They live by a code, not much more is known about them, you'll meet with one of these Justicars, learn as much as you can, but don't do anything stupid."_

"As long as your quest lasts, I'll stand by you, I shall kill, die and ..." He cut his hand, causing blood to drip down, "bleed for you. If you order me to torture, I'll torture, if you order me to kill, I'll kill, if you order me to show mercy, I'll show mercy. I shall continue fighting until you are confirmed dead, I die or you betray me. Your order will be my law and I will listen to the law. This is my blood oath and may the gates of Walhalla close on me, if I forsake it." At that point the few sedatives that managed to reach his body, kicked in.

"Tali and I will get all intel we can from the terminal, all others return to the Mako. Wrex take him with you."

"Lucky bastard, he's out for his first trip with the Mako."


	3. Chapter 2: Of dreams and medbays

_**Hello everyone,**_

_**It has been quite some time, hasn't it?**_

_**Anyway, you might want to read this just a small bit longer, to understand how this chapter (and a few of the coming chapters) work. You see, I'm working with 3 different timings here, this to make it a bit easier to comprehend, when to place what (once you get the hang of it ofcourse).**_

The first one, is the normal writing, like this, it is used when the speaker is actually there (in that chapter's part). If something that is not dialogue is written like this, then it is present (so Mass Effect 1 and beyond, depending on the progress we made so far)

_**The second one is like this, it will be used for visual flashbacks so basicly, that part of the story is in the past. It is what that person could see, smell, touch and so on. I assume you got the point.**_

_This is the third one, it will be used when the source of the text can't be seen. Be it because of the fact it was said in the past (or auditive flashbacks, I assume the correct term would be, not sure here) , or because the speaker is speaking directly into the mind, because of whatever silly, spacemagic-related explenations I can find. _

**_Ok, that was that. Also, don't be afraid to PM me if the next chapter takes too long, I work better when I know there is someone who thinks my story is good enough to be worth pressuring me to work at it some more. _**

**_Well, that's that, I'm not going to make this longer as need be, because... well, let's say a certain reaperscion, is considering to kill me if I take much longer waiting with this chapter._**

**_Enjoy reading and remember, don't forget to leave a review!_**

**_Greetings,_**

**_Joniedinofreak_**

**_PS: I only own my OC, all the other characters belong to Bioware and the song belongs to Globus._**

* * *

"My loyalties are with the Alliance not with the Shadow Broker, so get lost with your offer!"

"I hope you reconsider, commander," The contact pleaded.

"My answer remains the same," Shepard gestured to his yeoman to cut off the channel.

"That's unfortunate, commander, be sure the Sh-" the contact managed to say before being cut off.

Shepard stepped away, noticing Garrus standing next to the elevator door.

"So how's the new guy?"

"Still asleep, whatever they put in him, it must've been a lot of it, we should be happy he's still alive at this point. Chakwas is keeping a close eye on him at this moment."

"That bad, huh. Any ideas on his identity yet, eye-identification, DNA-scan, anything?"

"He has an ingenious booby-trap that makes sure we can't remove his armor without blowing up the entire med bay, how are we supposed to check his identity with that?"

"But I assume that's not all what you came for?"

"I came to ask for a favor, it's about an old case of mine..."

"I'm listening," He urged for Garrus to go on.

"Can we discuss this, somewhere more private?"

"Of course," he motioned he started to move towards his personal cabin, Garrus following him close behind. When they arrived in the cabin, he turned around and asked, "Who and what are we talking about?"

"A certain Dr. Saleon, I investigated him during my C-sec days..."

* * *

_**Nine opened his eyes. Looking around, he noticed a young boy, 17 maybe 18 years old. He was at a spaceport. Suddenly a tune entered the background, it sounded so familiar, yet he had no indication where it came from. The lyrics kicked in**_

_Fall away, my soul wandered,  
Borne by grace,_

_**The boy embraced an adult male and female, presumably his parents, and a young girl, his sister, knew Nine, maybe 10 years old. He kneeled embracing his sister. A call came and the boy stepped away from the family, waving once, before walking aboard the ship. Nine followed the boy and so many others like him. The mass wandered to the starboard observation deck of the ship. And the ship began to ascend.**_

_I flew on high, sheltered from this thunder,  
Calling heaven._

_**After a while most left the room, but not the boy. The boy simply stood there and watched as his home-planet left sight,watching it gradually getting smaller at first until the course had been set and the ship turned away from the planet. Only then did the boy leave the room and join up with most of the others.**_

_Take me away from time and season,  
Far far away we'll sing with reason,_

_**The ship left the system and then time began to speed up.**_

_Prepare a throne of stars above me,  
As the world once known will leave me._

_**Time slowed down when the ship docked. It had arrived at a large space station. All the people ****left the ship and gazed upon the space ship, most of them had never left their own planet, to arrive somewhere this large and in space had to be a dazzling experience for them. Yet, still they managed to get to the men screaming names,**_ "Jason Kalianikes!"_**, a boy left to get a number, letter and another number. "**_Luke Richardson!"_** Another boy left. And like that person after person left to get their number and so the boy Nine was following had to go too. **_

_Take me away upon a plateau,  
Far far away from fears and shadow,  
Strengthen my heart in times of sorrow,  
Light the way to bright tomorrows,_

_**The boy arrived at a bunk, only two other persons sitting there, both were the boys age, one male and one female. It seemed the boy wanted nothing to do with the two of them, but before he could get a chance, the female walked towards him, spontaneously introducing herself and the male. **_

"Pleased to meet you, my name is Lisa Hannover and this is John Wilkinson."

_**The boy hesitated, but in the end, he took the social route. As time progressed more people poured in. Nine saw them all speak and joke and laugh, while the bunk filled up. Boys, girls and people who couldn't be classified in any of them. And soon thereafter, the training began, overseers with such a bad attitude, people joked they were Krogan-Turian offspring, a woman with a scar that covered half her face and a sergeant whose wife had cheated on him with a Drell. Nine stood back and watched the boy and his comrades grow up.**_

_Answer our call in desperate hours,  
Shelter our fall from earthly powers,_

_**The recruits were tested to their limits. Some broke, others became monsters and still others became paragons, yet none stayed the same. None, but three, the first three in the bunk. As time progressed, training became harder, friendships were forged and others broken. Some recruits left out of their own will, others were forced to leave. Yet the boy was determined. Nine saw him become a man, have relationships and face terror. He saw him stand up for friends, yet crush enemies. But whatever happened, real combat wasn't part of the training.**_

_Temper our souls with flame and furnace,  
Bear us toward a noble purpose,_

_**Closely afterwards CQB tactics were included, along with the usual weapon training. Some got proficiencies, others didn't. Those that did, got transferred to other training groups, yet the three remained. They got promoted and demoted as commanders saw fit, their training lasted for an eternity, as it felt for Nine, but in the end it ended. One battalion, only 600 men, nowhere near full strength, turned ready. 600 noble souls, yet none of them was ready for their first emergency assignment. The attack on a planet, the name seemed to make the boy shiver. **_

_Heaven hides nothing in its measure  
Mortal men blinded by false treasure_

_**Shuttles entered the atmosphere of the planet, soon they were greeted by AA-fire, shuttles went down to the left of them, plunged down to the right of them. Yet not one pilot backed off, those noble yet foolish pilots. It was as if the pilots had lost the will to survive the moment the first shuttle went down, but it was that resignedness that got them through. Most of the ground troops had never or rarely seen combat. All of them had one thing in common: They didn't know hell was waiting for them. **_

_**They came out of their shuttles, gunfire greeting them. Men fell down before they even had a chance to react. Other shuttles were caught by missile fire. But even so, the enemies were no match for trained recruits, how inexperienced they might have been. The marines moved through the city, clearing out any resistance they met. **_

_**It was then the boy noticed a woman and a girl hiding in an alley. The boy beckoned for them to move. As they began to ran for the alliance column, a mortar barrage began and the boy got blown back by the force of a shell.**_

* * *

Chakwas was inspecting her new patient, only now had Tali found out that, whilst the helmet was booby-trapped, the quadgard wasn't. So basically, she was now removing the leg and arm pieces of the armor.

"Keelah," Tali exclaimed "What have they done?"  
Karin was thinking exactly the same. What they saw were arms and legs, with more needle marks and scars from knives, than she had ever thought possible. She put straps on his arms to check his heart rate. The machine started to go insane.

"Tali, get Liara over here!" She commanded, the tone alone should be enough for Tali to react without question.  
Unsurprisingly the girl acted immediately, and called upon Liara. As Liara entered the room, Chakwas spoke up.

"Hold him down while I get one of those sedatives you brought." Chakwas said. As Liara kept Nine steady by his shoulders, Chakwas looked for the sedatives...

* * *

_Formless and vanquished we shall travel**  
**Shield and sword will guide our battle_

_**The boy recovered and noticed craters around him, most of his unit was intact, but the place where the civvies had been, had received the brunt of the attack. It was then that he saw something moving, the girl still alive. He ran towards her. And a shocked tone left his mouth.**_

"Mona?"  
"It hurts..."

_**It was then that Nine noticed that the girl, the boy's sister, had lost her legs. Whether it was fate, coincidence or an order by someone in the higher command, Nine didn't know, but at that point a shuttle landed close to them, dropping of new troops and equipped for evacuation-duty. The girl got put in, whilst medics tried to keep her stable. The shuttle departed, when a missile hit it's cockpit. The shuttle crashed, then fire hit the fuel tank. When the shuttle exploded, the boy let out an anguished cry. Yet Nine had to grant him credit, instead of collapsing as any other, sane, man would have done, the boy broke off from his units, running in the general direction the missile was fired from. Yet he found nothing but a new battlefield.**_

_Take me away from time and season  
Far far away we'll sing with reason_

_**The boy stumbled upon an alliance platoon engaging a force of slavers. Or better said, the first being pinned down by heavy fire originating from the second. Colonists were being shipped in, right before the platoon's eyes.**_

"This is Lieutenant Ernesto Zabaleta, we need help!"

_**The moment the boy tried to stick his head of cover, heavy fire concentrated on him, yet the boy saw an armored human arrive, missile launcher on his back. The human gave orders to a Turian and Krogan. 5 minutes later, the colonists were being herded faster inside the pirate crafts. The boy noted one form between them.**_

"Dad! Over here!"

_**The man, noting his son between the marines, had a sudden heroic surge, punched one of captors down and ran for the alliance lines. The armored human turned around and shot once. The father collapsed as the bullet hit him through the head. As the boy screamed, the armored human made a mocking gesture and gestured to his men. Bullets pierced the colonists that weren't shipped in or close to the pirate crafts. Nine couldn't help but stand back and watch as the boy became consumed by madness and charged. **_

_Prepare a throne of stars above me  
As the world once known will leave me _

_**The boy fired, bullets piercing a Turian and a Human, which were caught by surprise. As the boy charged towards the crafts, the armored human stood from the closest craft's door opening. A gun flashed, a first shot penetrated a shoulder, the second grazed a leg, the third knocked the rifle out of the boy's hand. Then the door closed and the crafts departed, leaving behind shocked Alliance troopers.**_

_**The boy collapsed and started to cry. Nine stepped forward until he was standing right behind the boy and cocked a gun against the boy's head.**_

_**A voice boomed through his head and it was only then he noted the song had stopped. **__"Shoot him."_ _**Nine hesitated and then the boy suddenly transformed in front of his eyes, it's skin turning pale, blue orbs replacing his eyes and something that vaguely resembled a battery lighted up in his chest. The creature attacked.**__"You can not resist."_ _**Nine fired until nothing remained of what used to be the boy.**_

* * *

"Heartbeat going up!"

Chakwas grabbed one of the syringes and turned around.

_Beeeeeeeep._

The noise was enough for Chakwas to realize that the patient was lost. She sighed, it was hard to admit that someone died on your watch, but it happened nonetheless.

"Time of death?" She asked.

"You can't be serious, doctor! Why aren't you using that defibrillator?" Liara asked, rather shocked by what she was seeing.

" I can't with that armor. Tali, tell Shepard he has to come here now."

Tali had only just left, when suddenly something sounded like it was heating up and then a first blast. A second and a third. Nine's body started being shocked, his armor serving as independent defibrillator. A fourth blast got the heart rate going again. And just as sudden it had begun, it stopped.  
Liara and Chakwas looked at each other for a few moments, staring in silence.

"Doctor, did you see that?"

Chakwas could only nod and wonder what else that armor was capable of.

"Goddess..."

"What have they done?" Chakwas finished for Liara.

* * *

_**Nine looked at the boy, until he noted his arms. His armor had changed, his arms clad in a white armor, yellow symbols staring at him. They jumped from his armor, changing into a three-headed dog, every head looking like the symbol. The alliance platoon fired at it, but the shots did no damage, the heads started to tear through the platoon, like a knife through butter. The dog turned it's drooling heads towards Nine, blood seeping from the mouths, blood-lust visible in it's eyes. It jumped at Nine.**_

_**Only to be intercepted by a beam. It seemed as if it took an eternity for it to burn, but when it was done the voice boomed again.**_

"_Serve us."** It appeared as if the voice sounded gentle now. **"We will keep you safe."_

_**Instead however, Nine felt energy sprawl up from inside him. And then it burst outside of him, a large blue sphere consuming the area, then the planet, the solar system, the cluster and then the Milky Way, yet it did not stop, it went into dark space and beyond. It couldn't last however and all came back his way when the sphere imploded, Nine couldn't keep a track of what came to him, Crafts of all sizes and shapes, Humans, Turians, Krogan, Quarians, Batarians and so on, entire stars and planets. And right before it all hit him...**_

He jumped up, hearing a small thud, but his eyes not having registered what it was. For the first thing he saw, was a mirror. And it was not the lack of armor on his arms he noted first. Nor was it the medical room or Asari that laid half upon him. What he saw was the armored human that carried a missile launcher and wounded the boy...

And at that point the door to the med bay opened and a male voice sounded.

"You're looking quite lively... for a dead man."


End file.
